India
The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to prohibit Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Pravin Togadia from entering West Bengal. The ban comes into effect immediately on Wednesday and Togadia can be arrested if he violates it.
Updated : Apr 01, 2015, 11:27 PM IST
The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to prohibit Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Pravin Togadia from entering West Bengal. The ban comes into effect immediately on Wednesday and Togadia can be arrested if he violates it.
Togadia was to hold a rally at Raiganj in North Dinajpur district on April 5, in view of which the state has banned his entry.
The state home ministry in a statement said that his entry could lead to communal tension.
"They apprehend that the entry of Dr Praveen Bhai Togadia, his holding closed-door or public meetings/rallies will lead to communal tension and this would cause disturbance of the public tranquility," the statement said.
Accordingly, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been issued by Additional Chief Secretary Basudeb Banerjee.
On January 29, Togadia had addressed a rally in Bengal's Birbhum district. After the rally, the VHP held a 'suddhikaran' ceremony where as many as 20 people -- Christians and Muslims -- were "reconverted" to Hinduism. An FIR was later filed against Mr Togadia for inflammatory speech.
This is not the first time Togadia has been banned from a state. Since February, Mr Togadia has been banned from entering Karnataka, Assam and Odisha.
In February, the Bengaluru police asked him not to enter the city, where he was to address a VHP meeting.
The police described Bengaluru as a communally sensitive area, and said Mr Togadia's speeches could disturb communal harmony in the city.
However, Togadia negated the order by recording his speech, which was then played at the VHP meeting.
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